Like Father, Like Son

“I grew up with my father, the King, talking about the power of nature and importance of harmony in the natural world,” said Prince William during his visit to Brazil for the Earthshot Prize, the environmental awards which he founded in 2020 with Sir David Attenborough. It was, he added, “a subject he has championed for over five decades. It’s a privilege to also represent him here today.”

There has been plenty of murmurs that William and King Charles were not getting on, so it was heartwarming to hear William speak so affectionately of his father.

Charles, who is still struggling with cancer, must have felt deeply moved to hear his heir praising him. It also gave him a pause from the crisis with his brother Andrew Mountbatten Windsor whose title of Prince has been removed, and some respite from his nagging son Harry, eaten up by resentment, who wants to come back to the UK but won’t compromise or conciliate.

Prince William landed in Rio de Janeiro on November 3 for a visit largely devoted to environmental issues, including the fifth anniversary of the Earthshot Prize and the COP30 climate summit.

He visited Sugarloaf Mountain, played football at the Maracana stadium, and took off his shoes and socks for beach- volleyball on Copacabana beach in which he showed an elegant athleticism. All of which was hugely enjoyed by children and adults alike.

He also went to see the statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooking the city, in the footsteps of his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. He was astounded by the view and re-created a photograph taken of Diana on a visit to Rio de Janeiro 34 years ago

.

Although he was full of smiles in Brazil, plenty of people round the world are sceptical of his prophecies of climate disaster. William, however, along with his father, is not about to change his mind. He said firmly that the world was “edging dangerously close to climate disaster” but also offered a note of optimism: “A world without hope and a world without positivity is a pretty depressing place.” Stars including Shawn Mendes and Kylie Minogue were there to cheer him on.

William had a difficult early life, losing his mother in a car crash in 1997 when he was only 15. Losing her, he has said, was “like no other pain”.

His parents had a turbulent marriage that ended in divorce. Diana needed William to be an adult when he was still young and had little experience to help her, which affected him.

His father and his wife, Princess Catherine, have both had cancer and William has described 2024 as “probably the hardest year”, although it seems both he and Catherine are upbeat and positive about dealing with her ill-health.

He holds a powerful commitment to the planet’s future that will belong “not to us but to our children and grandchildren”. At the Earthshot awards ceremony he mentioned his children, 12-year-old George, Charlotte, aged ten, and Louis, aged seven, and said: “The planet is going to be in a healthier, better state because of the brilliant people in this room, [which] is something that I love to tell them when they go to bed: ‘It’s going to be great. Your future is going to be as bright as futures gone by’.” A very important message to impart.

William has usually kept personal things to himself but he had an unusual interview with Brazilian TV host Luciano Huck, and told him he and Catherine have been totally honest with them about their mother and grandfather’s cancer.

He said: ‘We decided to tell our children everything, both the good news and the bad. We explain to them why certain things happen and why they might feel upset.

‘Many questions might come up without answers - I think all parents go through that. There’s no rulebook for being a parent, and we chose to talk about everything.’

William was also given a moving photograph of Princess Diana, taken during her 1991 visit to São Paulo.

Diana was gently holding a child with HIV.

‘She became a very important figure in the fight against prejudice,’ Huck said, and William replied: ‘I carry her social and humanitarian legacy with me every day.’

Next year William wants to go to India which, although its president is not attending COP30, he is starting to support environmental agreements. William wants China too to back them as it is apparently getting interested in climate change despite being one of the world’s biggest polluters.

William knows he carries an important duty on his shoulders, one he could barely face when he was a teenager at the University of St Andrews. He certainly didn’t want to just cut ribbons, but gradually Catherine, then his girlfriend, helped him find worthy things he would grow to feel were important and suited his nature. It hugely helped him and built his feelings about his role, his country and his family. Rumour has it that both he and Catherine have become more religious, something many individuals do when they or their loved one recover from a severe illness.

William has a great sense of humour and a quiet dignity which is very likeable. One source said: “Unlike Harry, William doesn’t air the family laundry in public.”

Being positive isn’t always easy and William has always felt that the press has pestered him from childhood. A classic example came from Christiane Amanpour, the CNN anchor, who seized the opportunity of his trip to Brazil to try to find out what was going on in the royal family. Despite her pressing him about Andrew, Harry and Meghan, he managed politely not to discuss the royal family’s troubles in public, saying instead: “I want to surround myself with people who want to make change and do good in the world.”

He praised the Earthshot Prize winners, calling them “action heroes” and declared: “Change will come from backing them, not by what I do.”

This year, nearly 2,500 nominees were submitted from 72 countries. Of these, 15 finalists were selected, from whom the five winners were chosen.

William has committed himself to the prize, worth £1million each year, for 10 years, to help repair the climate, with Rio marking a halfway point for the venture.

.

In his impassioned speech, William said: “I understand that some might feel discouraged in these uncertain times. I understand that there is still so much to be done.

“But this is no time for complacency, and the optimism I felt in 2020 remains ardent today.

“Because our finalists are a shining example of how we can build stronger economies, design healthier cities, and create better jobs for the next generation.”

If his rock star reception in Rio is anything to go by, perhaps plenty of young people around the world will be inspired by his example.